Or at Least to Your Sweet Spot of Life Success

In this time of constantly negative headlines and challenging economic news around the country, all of us need to look inside ourselves for strength.

That’s why we need to seize “our” day and remember the strengths and values we bring to the table every day – with our families, friends, co-workers and especially ourselves.

Maintaining a consistent personal brand may rely on seizing the “moment” throughout your day. This moment maybe showing colleagues your calmness as a work crisis swirls around your office. It also may be defined as how you react to an unexpected request by your teenager. Or even how you positively change your driving behavior after you get a speeding ticket. There are many things that make up your personal brand and how folks react to you. Here is an example how I have successfully traversed though challenges.

When I was younger (I am now nearly 50), I wanted to be in control of everything in my life and seize every moment of the day. This sounds great, doesn’t it? It is only natural we want to be in control of all aspects of our lives. I found, though, that I was expending so much energy trying to be in total control that I was losing my resilience edge. Also, having a physical disability (Cerebral Palsy), I found there was life control only to a certain point. Sometimes my body – not my mind – dictated how I was going to do on a particular day.

There also were just some things I could not control totally at work, home and life in general that were reducing my resilience on things I could ultimately control.

I thought, for example, I was in control of my most recent work life. I was doing great, with fantastic reviews, an “essential” tag placed on me, terrific compensation and much admiration of my peers throughout the company. There, of course, was the awful recent downturn in the economy, but I thought my exemplary performance would keep me in control of my fate. Man, did I have a lot to learn…

Within a matter of a few months of being “essential,” I became expendable no matter how much effort expended and control I thought I had. With no fault of the company, it had to cut to the bone including me. The lesson for me was there are some things – great and small – out of a person’s total control.

I hoped this would be my last company I would ever work for. I found you can never feel totally secure at work even with an A+ work performance record.

I have moved on to have success in many other areas, including life resiliency training and this award-nominated blog – THANK YOU! I have adapted my control definition, and stayed in personal control of being strong, nimble and resilient. That is, continuing to seize every moment of the day in a slightly more realistic way. That is, I’ve adapted my personal brand to outside circumstances out of my control.

Being nimble, adaptable – and more realistic - in all circumstances – will allow you to stay resilient, in control and strongly show the resolve of your personal brand. How do you rate your personal bran nimbleness?

Please think through this carefully and remember that you have ultimate control of your attitude and how you approach life…in truth, that’s it. Both are very important to the essential fabric of your personal brand. Controlling your attitude is especially important with the typical challenges of not feeling in ultimate control of your work life, and in some respects, your personal life.

Once I understood this, I was more successfully able to navigate through the valleys, hills and peaks all of us face everyday. Even though I have a physical disability, my goals in life are quite similar to yours – the pursuit of happiness and a safe, secure life for my family. Your strength and personal brand will help you through the good times and the inevitable bumps in life…

Look forward to talking with you again next week!

To find more of my career and life resiliency articles, please visit www.examiner.com. My web page is http://www.examiner.com/x-13474-Minneapolis-Career-Resiliency-Examiner.  To get a bit more info about me, I suggest you visit my Linkedin page -  http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?trk=hb_side_pro. If you have a Linkedin profile, please invite me to join your network. I will enjoy connecting with you.